As you’ve no doubt heard by now, Spider-Man is coming to the MCU. But the powers that be aren’t simply merging Sony’s existing Spider-Man franchise with the Marvel movies — no, this is going to be a whole new Spider-Man, which means the webslinging role is up for grabs again.

Marvel and Sony have yet to reveal whom they want to put on the Spidey mask, but while they mull it over we’ve got some ideas for them. After the jump, run down our new Spider-Man casting wishlist. Read More »

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That Steve Jobs biopic has been through a quite a few potential Steve Jobs-es already. Christian Bale was one of the first names we heard, followed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Bale again, and now Michael Fassbender. But we’ve now learned there was yet another A-list actor in contention as of a couple months ago.

Sony apparently wanted Tom Cruise for the part, as revealed by emails from the Sony hack. In addition, Tobey Maguire and Matthew McConaughey reportedly also lobbied for the part. More details after the jump on the Tom Cruise Steve Jobs casting that never happened.

Matt Reeves is planning ahead. The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes director is already set to return for the sequel, and now he’s lined up his next film beyond that: an untitled bank heist thriller in the vein of Heat and Dog Day Afternoon. More details on the Matt Reeves bank heist movie after the jump. Read More »

While the mainstream is fetishizing the ’90s, a crew is still looking back at the forgotten corners of ’80s pop culture. IFC mini-series The Spoils of Babylon is from exec producers Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Matt Piedmont, Andrew Steele and Nate Young. (Steele and Piedmont wrote.)It is designed as a spoof of ’80s event television, and skewers stuff like The Thorn Birds; beach lit stories that, in their small-screen incarnations, are forgotten by most people who weren’t around to watch them the first time.

The series is about the Morehouse oil tycoon family, with Tobey Maguire, Tim Robbins and Kristen Wiig among the leads. (Jessica Alba, Jelly Howie, Val Kilmer, Michael Sheen, and Steve Tom also show up.) Below, watch a trailer in which Maguire narrates a brief history of the family, culminating with the ominous memory of the Morehouse son Winston. Read More »

Few modern American historical figures are as mysterious and mythical as chess champion Bobby Fischer. The first American, and youngest World Chess Champion, who famously disappeared for several decades, has been the subject of multiple narrative and documentary films.

A new effort has recently moved up on the board. It’s called Pawn Sacrifice and will be directed by Ed Zwick with Tobey Maguire set to play Fischer. Now Peter Sarsgaard and Liev Schreiber have joined the film, which has been gestating for several years with David Fincher once attached to direct. It finally starts filming in October. Read More »

Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are living in the past. The modern TV “event series” has its roots in, well, Roots, and other mini-series adaptations of popular epic fiction. The late ’70s and early ’80s saw a rash of highly-touted adaptations of historical novels and family sagas, with the runaway success of Roots followed by Jesus of Nazareth, Shogun, The Thorn Birds, The Winds of War, and many more.

The basic format has changed little today — you’ll still see mini-series novel adaptations with a high-profile cast and a budget that outstrips some television. but there’s a way of advertising these events that has changed a little bit.

For their IFC mini-series The Spoils of Babylon, Ferrell and McKay are taking aim at those TV events, and they’ve appropriated the old ’80s ad style to go along with it. Or a comic version of it, at least. I don’t know if this will work on people under 30, but anyone who was watching TV in the late ’70s and early ’80s will chuckle at this spot. (The series features Ferrell, Kristin Wiig, Tobey Maguire, Jessica Alba, Michael Sheen, Val Kilmer, Tim Robbins and Haley Joel Osment, but none of them show up in this teaser, just warning.) Read More »

In a post-apocalyptic world, one girl believes she’s the last human alive. Then she sees some smoke on the horizon, and a man appears. She and the man fall in love, assuming they’re all that’s left. Then another man emerges. That’s the plot of Robert C. O’Brien‘s ’70s sci-fi novel, Z For Zachariah, which is about to get the big screen treatment.

Directed by Craig Zobel (of the amazingCompliance), produced by Tobey Maguire and adapted by Nissar Modi, Amanda Seyfried will play the young girl, Chiwetel Ejiofor the man she falls in love with and Chris Pine the mysterious stranger. Filming should occur later this Summer. Read More »

Though Fergie‘s contribution to the The Great Gatsby soundtrack insists that “a little party never killed nobody,” anyone who’s read the book will know that’s not exactly how things turn out for Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his pals. But until the consequences come, you can bet they’ll take her suggestion to “dance until we drop.”

While the earlier trailers have played up the tragedy of Gatsby’s tale, the latest one mostly emphasizes the hardcore partying. That means fast cars, fancy boats, sparkling diamonds, glitter by the bucketful, and all the booze one could possibly want. Watch the video after the jump.

This short UK trailer for Baz Luhrmann‘s The Great Gatsby puts the focus on the (possibly) manufactured nature of Gatsby’s life and persona. That was a big part of the last full trailer, too, but here the aim more than ever is to show the personal nature of the conflict between Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton), with Daisy (Carey Mulligan) in the middle.

In addition, a few more posters (yep, one more set, to complement the othertwo) have come online. Read More »